The present invention relates to the production of paperboard containers and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for automatically positioning the appurtenances of container production equipment to facilitate the production of containers from paperboard stock.
In the production of corrugated paperboard containers, a continuous, wide web of corrugated paperboard is produced by "combining" equipment. The web of corrugated paperboard is then converted into a container of a desired size and shape and with a desired printed exterior through a series of operations, requiring printing, creasing, slotting, gluing, folding and stacking.
Container production equipment of one known type slits and scores the continuous web or corrugated paperboard produced by the combining equipment and then severs the slit and scored web to form scored blanks of an appropriate dimension for the production of a desired container size. The scored blanks are then fed into a finishing machine which produces finished containers from the blanks.
One such corrugated paperboard container finishing machine in current commercial use feeds the scored blanks of corrugated paperboard successively from a hopper through multiple machine sections in which various operations are performed on the blank. The hopper is provided with movable side and back stop guides to insure proper feeding of various sized blanks through adjustment of the guides. The scored container blank is fed from the hopper to a printing section where printed material is applied to the container blank in one or more colors and at one or more locations. For example, the container blank may be fed between a print cylinder and an impression cylinder and, in a typical flexographic printer, a flexible rubber printing plate on the print cylinder may apply the printed material to the container blank. It will be appreciated that the printing plate must be in proper registration with the container blank as the blank moves through the printing section to insure printing at the desired locations on the finished container. Accordingly, the registration of the printing section must be adjustable in accordance with the dimensions of the container blank and the desired locations of the printed material on the blank.
The container blank is also fed through a section of the machine typically referred to as a slotter/creaser to form slots and creases in the container blank and thereby form flaps and panels which are ultimately folded and joined to form the container. The positions of the slots and creases determine, together with the dimensions of the blank and the positions of the scores, the overall size and shape of the container. Accordingly, the cutting and crushing devices which perform the slotting and creasing operations must be adjustable to suit the various requirements for container sizes and shapes.
After the printing, slotting and creasing operations have been performed on the scored blank, the blank is fed to a folding and joining section where the flaps and panels are folded and adhesively or otherwise conventionally joined to form the semi-finished container. The semi-finished containers are then stacked and bundled for shipment to customers. It will be appreciated that the folding and adhesive applying assembly must be adjustable toaccommodate various container dimensions. Similarly, the guides of the stacking assembly must be adjustable in accordance with container dimensions. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the spacing between cooperating pairs of appurtenances, e.g., printing and impression cylinders as well as feed rolls, must be adjustable in accordance with the thickness or "caliper" of the container blank.
It can be seen from the foregoing that the positions of a large number of appurtenances of a container production machine must be established before the production of a particular container can be commenced. The manual positioning of these various appurtenances, e.g., the positioning of the printing plate or plates to establish proper registration, is extremely time consuming. In a typical finishing machine, for example, the various operating sections are joined together so that they operate in proper registration on a container blank, and the sections must therefore be parted to provide access to the appurtenances. The operator must usually translate dimensions from a customer order into required positional dimensions of the various appurtenances. The operator must then establish a number of the various positions by actual measurements from some reference position such as machine dead center using, in many instances, special tools required for the set-up procedure. The sections must then be brought back together before a first blank may be run through the machine to test its alignment. It will be appreciated that this positioning process can be very time consuming and, if not accurately completed on the first attempt, can keep a machine out of production for an exorbitant length of time.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for rapidly and accurately positioning the appurtenances of multi-section container production equipment with minimal operator intervention and without the need for separating the sections of the equipment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for automatically poasitioning the appurtenances of container production equipment in response to input data as to container dimensions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for automatically positioning the appurtenances of container production equipment in response to input data as to container dimensions wherein the data for a plurality of different container sizes is stored and can be retrieved and utilized to position the appurtenances in response to a simple production order customer or other code.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for automatically positioning the appurtenances of container production equipment from initialized known positions.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for automatically initializing the positions of appurtenances of container production equipment in response to predetermined conditions of the equipment.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for automatically positioning appurtenances of container production equipment wherein operator controlled positioning of an individual appurtenance is available through the automatic control system to provide corrections to the automatic positioning.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for positioning appurtenances of container production equipment in response to container dimension data selected from one of a plurality of sources.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are accomplished in accordance with the present invention as will become apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings.